The FCC giving the green light to partial deployment of AST SpaceMobile's direct-to-device satellite constellation is "a significant step to targeting 100% nationwide coverage from space of the continental United States on premium cellular spectrum,” President Scott Wisniewski said Monday as the company announced the approval. Under the FCC Space Bureau authorization order in Monday's Daily Digest, AST may operate feeder links and telemetry, tracking and command operations in the V, S and UHF bands. The approval defers on additional frequencies, inducing terrestrial bands that it would use to provide supplemental coverage from space (SCS). The agency said the approval lets AST begin deployment, with the goal of testing a system capable of providing SCS service, subject to additional approvals. "While this grant does not authorize any operations or testing for SCS, we believe that the deployment of five satellites under this limited grant ... will enable AST to request authority to further test this still emerging technology," the agency said. The FCC conditioned the approval on AST making "a good faith effort" to reduce optical brightness of its satellites, choose lower orbital elevations when feasible, and provide orbital information to astronomy sites and astronomers. SpaceX had sought conditions on AST satellites that matched those the agency imposed on the second-generation Starlink satellites. The commission agreed, saying that would let it monitor AST operations continuously. But the agency rejected a 100 object-years metric for measuring AST satellite failures, as Amazon's Kuiper was seeking. The approval covers five BlueBird satellites, with the FCC deferring on 243 others. AST said its first five BlueBirds have completed environmental testing and are ready for shipment to Cape Canaveral this week for a seven-day launch window in September.

The ViaSat-3 F1 commenced offering commercial in-flight connectivity service over North America, the company said Monday. Viasat said its ViaSat-3 F2 and F3 high-throughput satellites are in the late stages of testing. It said antenna deployment problems that developed after F1's April 2023 launch (see 2307130003) caused a significant reduction in capacity, but it can support aviation connectivity over North America.

The FCC should phase in the regulatory fee hike facing Space Bureau payers or risk causing financial hardship that could stymie the satellite industry's growth, according to Intelsat. Recapping a meeting with the office of Commissioner Anna Gomez, Intelsat said Friday in docket 24-85 that it reiterated its argument for a five-year phase-in (see 2405170032).

FCC rules changes intended to expedite processing of satellite and earth station applications and new spectrum allocations for space launches go into effect Sept. 4, said a notice for Monday's Federal Register. The commissioners adopted the changes and allocations at their September 2023 meeting (see 2309210055). The application processing order among other things sets time frames for placing satellite and earth station applications on notice for public comment and lets non-geostationary orbit licensees have more than one unbuilt system without facing the possible dismissal of applications. The spectrum order sets an allocation in the 2025-2110 MHz band and makes the 2200-2290 MHz band available for launch telemetry.

Blue Origin hopes to launch its Moon Lander MK1 Pathfinder for an orbital mission around the moon as soon as Q1 2025, it said in an FCC Space Bureau application posted Friday. The Pathfinder cargo lander will carry sensors and cameras; it will collect data and assist with training for Blue Origin's lunar program, the company said.

Only Telesat and SpaceX have issued quantitative inference analyses of spectrum sharing among earlier and later processing round non-geostationary orbit satellite systems (see 2407220021), SpaceX said Friday. In a docket 21-456 filing recapping a meeting with FCC Space Bureau staff, SpaceX said the protection proposals from other commenters "involve hand-waving arguments to support arbitrarily-selected values." In a recap of meetings with the offices of Commissioners Geoffrey Starks and Nathan Simington and the Space Bureau, Amazon's Kuiper said it urged the FCC to wrap the proceeding and discussed its recommended protection values.

Protected status for federal earth stations using commercial satellite services is "overdue," NTIA said this week in docket 24-121 as the FCC sought comment on expanded federal use of commercial satellite spectrum bands (see 2406280034). NTIA said the FCC should move quickly on an NPRM that lays the path for that protected status for federal earth stations using commercial satellite services. It suggested a regime where federal agencies would submit information to the commission for notice and comment, and then entry into the FCC’s earth station database, akin to the process some FAA-operated C-band earth stations in Alaska use. Warning of the possible hindrance of 5G’s rollout, CTIA said any sweeping allocation of spectrum to federal users on a primary basis “would exacerbate the existing imbalance between federal and non-federal spectrum allocations.” It said the FCC and its Office of Engineering and Technology need to clearly define the spectrum bands not already allocated for federal fixed satellite service (FSS) and mobile satellite service (MSS) that might be looked at for expanded federal use. It said adding federal allocations to the lower C band and to the 13 GHz band could complicate investigation of the bands for commercial mobile use. The Satellite Industry Association said FSS and MSS allocations should be added to the federal portion of the Table of Frequency Allocations for nonfederal spectrum bands, while also making clear federal operations under the allocation are limited to federal earth stations communicating with nonfederal space stations. It said federal users should have to follow the same rules and procedures as nonfederal users. SIA's comments were similar its 2021 advocacy, when the agency also looked at the issue (see 2110180066). The 10.7-11.7 GHz band is “critical” for mobile wireless traffic backhaul and a “safe harbor” band for fixed service systems relocating out of the 6 GHz band, said Comsearch. Fixed service use of the band has almost tripled in the past decade, it said. Comsearch said that extensive use of the band points to how it must be preserved for nonfederal terrestrial operations.

The sonic booms from SpaceX's Starship heavy rocket will be more powerful than those from its Falcon 9 rocket's landings. However, they don't pose an injury risk to surrounding areas, SpaceX blogged this week. It said the biggest issues will be around the launch pad, an area cleared in advance of launch and designed to withstand the effects of launches and returns.

Xplore hopes to launch its XCube-1 earth imaging satellite on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission between October and the end of April, it told the FCC Space Bureau in an application posted Friday. Xplore said it plans a low earth orbit constellation that will offer remote sensing data products and edge computing using multiple payload computers, as well as payload hosting. It said XCube-1 will be its first commercial mission and use X-band downlinks.

Spire Global has plans for launching one of its Lemur-class earth observation satellites by early February on a SpaceX rideshare mission. In an FCC Space Bureau application posted Thursday seeking authorization for the Lemur mission, Spire said it would use the same frequencies and operating parameters as previously authorized Lemurs along with nonstandard imaging equipment that would make it larger than the other authorized Lemurs. The FCC in 2018 authorized Spire's Lemur constellation of up to 872 satellites.